| Programs are being developed in several U.S. medical centers to recognize and address the psychiatric needs of people living with cancer In a collaborative effort, several American university programs are working with the National Institutes of Health to develop programs dedicated to studying and addressing the psychiatric needs of patients with cancer. “Cancer itself can cause people to become anxious or depressed. The treatments can contribute to mood changes, adjustment problems, even delirium in some cases, and so there’s a wide range of mental health issues that can affect patients,” said psychiatrist Michelle Riba, MD, Director of the PsychOncology Program at the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center. Riba noted that it is particularly important for psychiatrists to consider a history of mental health problems, including substance abuse, anxiety or depression, in addition to the current cancer diagnosis, saying “When people are diagnosed with cancer, it’s not a clean slate. The cancer is added on to past problems.” In addition, some cancers have a particular effect on emotions: brain tumors, pancreatic cancer, and lung cancer tend to be the most debilitating emotionally. Patients with those types of cancer often have more difficulty with depression and anxiety than patients with other types of cancer. Researchers suspect biochemical factors and the location of the tumor somehow affect emotions. Cancer treatment can also induce emotional difficulties. For example, high-dose steroids given to combat chemotherapy side effects are well known to cause depression, anxiety or even psychosis. “Often the symptoms of the depression or anxiety are very similar to the problems that patients have with the cancer itself, its treatment or its side effects. So not having an appetite or being quite fatigued may be related to the cancer itself, but also can be related to having depression. So it’s sometimes very difficult to tease out,” Riba said. Several English-language resources exist for mental health professionals who evaluate and treat patients who are undergoing treatment for cancer or who are beginning to cope with the status of cancer survivor: University of Michigan PsychOncology Program
|